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1917] FIRST ALARMING REVELATIONS 475
In the first place the Revolution had been infinitely
more bloody than any one would acknowledge : all the
men of the police force, even those who had not taken
any part whatever in the repression of the first riots,
were massacred in the most brutal way; there’ were
savage hunts through the streets followed by ghastly
scenes. Many officers and generals were killed long
after the Revolution had triumphed without any motive,
merely to gratify the whim of a band of demoniacs or of
an armed and drunken soldier.
It was not only the cells of political culprits which
were thrown open by the triumphant people. All prison
doors had been broken open and all the criminals of the
worst order infested the capital dressed as soldiers and
mingling freely with them.
And horrible news—suppressed for some time—
came through at last as to what had taken place in the
Fleet at Cronstadt and then at Helsingfors : admirals
treacherously and cruelly assassinated, officers martyred
—a hell of blood and heinous tortures. And finally
Cronstadt and the Fleet forming themselves into a
republic of savages, with which the Government had to
treat at every turn !
What also made me very anxious—on account of the
actual fact and as a symptom—was the fate reserved for
the Emperor and his near relations. According to the
terms of the parleys which had preceded the abdication,
the Emperor and his family had full liberty to establish
themselves in the Crimea or in some other residence far
removed from capitals and all political intrigue. A few
days later, one heard that the Provisional Government
had decided to make them merely leave Russia, that an
arrangement ad hoc had been made with London, and
that they were to go by Murman. But days and weeks
went by and the Emperor and his family were still
prisoners in their Palace of Tsarskoe, exposed to the
offensive curiosity of the crowd and to insults of all
kinds from their guardians. It became clear that the
famous " Soviet" was against the removal of the unhappy
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